Luis Prieto’s self-consciously cool English-language remake of Nicolas Winding Refn’s coruscating 1996 thriller has style in abundance.

Transplanted from the streets of Copenhagen to present-day London, Pusher imagines the capital as a rat-run of neon-lit nightclubs, smoke-filled house parties and swanky apartments, where punters pay thousands in cash for their next hit.

The beautiful squalor is set to a pulsating soundtrack by electronic dance duo Orbital, providing frenetic bursts of pace and energy.

What Prieto’s version lacks is a strong emotional connection to the godforsaken anti-hero as he careens from disaster to despair, discovering the drugs he peddles don’t work, they make everything far worse.

We feel no concern as the weight of the world comes crashing down upon him. He gambles big, loses bigger and earns the grim consequences.

Partyboy and dealer Frank (Richard Coyle) is a big fish in a small east London pond. He seems to have it all – bundles of cash, pole-dancing girlfriend Flo (Agyness Deyn) and free entry to the best clubs.

However, like all low-levels criminals, Frank is only as good as his last deal has to borrow heavily from men who don’t take kindly to late repayments.

Bookmarked into daily chapters, Pusher paints Frank’s soulless existence in lurid colours, complimented by Kim Gaster's snappy editing and some trippy visuals.

Coyle lacks roguish charm in initial scenes but glistens with desperation as Frank’s plight becomes increasingly bleak, and supermodel Deyn impresses, demonstrating emotional depth in her few scenes.

Zlatko Buric as drug lord Milo reprises his menacing role from the original film and provides the clear link between the two films.

It’s hard to muster any sympathy for Frank as he prepares to lose his kneecaps.

He’s going down, and Prieto’s film threatens to follow.

Two stars